Marin

SMARTmight get delayed yet again, with Interim Executive Director Farhad Mansourian saying, "I doubt we will be operational by 2014." It seems as though the two-year delay specified in their updated financial report, which saved $24 million in operating costs, isn't due to cost-cutting but rather because getting approval to build on wetland takes far longer than the Board had expected. You can hear about that and much more later today at SMART's Board meeting, 1:30pm at San Rafael's Council Chambers or tomorrow's Citizens Oversight Committee meeting at 7:30am.

Highway 101 is getting a $24 million repaving. A fix-it-first policy is always good - it saves money for government and for drivers - but I should hope that these monies would receive the same scrutiny as TAM's $8 million SMART bailout.

Fairfax's potential new music venue, Terrapin Crossing, got some support from the IJ editorial board, who said that the Phil Lesh idea would be "a golden opportunity for the town."

Another town faces affordable housing in a cautionary tale from SoCal as to the results of blanket opposition.

Around the Bay

Transit useis dramatically up across the Bay Area over last year. The article doesn't mention Golden Gate Transit, but according to their site ridership on GGT buses increased by 1.3% while ridership in GGT ferries increased by 7.4% and is now higher than before the recession. Driving took a hit, though, with Golden Gate Bridge traffic down 1.3%.

The Greater Marin

It looks like merchants tend to misjudge how people get to their stores, giving driving a far larger share of the pie than other modes. This could lead to local merchants opposing bike lanes and pushing for more parking to boost customers, even if those policies don't help.

The New York Times shines a light on the dangers of missing crosswalks and sidewalks. Marin is blessed that it lacks the huge, 10-lane arterials that run through cities like Orlando or Raleigh.

The General Services Administration, landlord for the Federal government, is working with Washington, DC's transit agency to build or rent its buildings near transit, especially the Metro system. This is especially important given that government buildings can stress neighborhoods that aren't designed to handle such commutes, and is a shift from previous policy that just looks at the cheapest options.

California's High-Speed Railis in court, as Peninsula governments have brought a lawsuit against them, saying they provided bad ridership information, bad cost information, performed a poor environmental review and failed to do a proper analysis of the vehicular impact of the system.